Sculptures worth $20,000 stolen in LR

"Conversation with Myself," one of three sculptures stolen from downtown Little Rock, is seen in this courtesy photo from the Little Rock Police Department.

LITTLE ROCK  Police say a thief made off with three bronze sculptures that had been on display in the city's River Market district.

The works are reportedly worth a combined $20,500.

The Little Rock Police Department said a Parks Department employee noticed the pieces missing Friday morning during an inspection of Riverfront Park, where they had been displayed in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden alongside a number of others.

The sculptures taken were: Conversation with Myself, a two-part piece of a long-legged man looking down; Birds of Happiness, which depicts two storks in flight; and Uptown Saturday Night, a sculpture of a female dancer.

Bryan Massey, the artist who made Uptown Saturday Night, said it was disappointing to learn from a reporter Tuesday that his was one of the pieces that had been taken.

Massey, an art professor at the University of Central Arkansas, said he was getting ready for the biannual cleaning of his work, which he said was installed about five years ago and was inspired by the New Orleans Blues Festival.

"A thief is one thing that I totally despise," Massey said by phone. "It makes me feel bad because the city bought that for that park. I'm not sure what they'd do with it other than sell it for scrap. Bronze is pretty expensive right now."

Massey said his piece was "supposedly securely bound" by way of being welded to steel plates.